Hot dogs, locked cars, not cool

Dog owners in Silver City may want to think twice before leaving their dogs in their vehicles, not only for the animals’ well-being, but because of a notice of intent passed at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting. Should the ordinance in question be approved, it would allow Silver City police and Animal Control officers the authority to break into cars to rescue animals they deem in danger — at the owner’s expense.

This is a continuation of the council’s efforts to regulate treatment of animals over the last few years. In August 2015, the council approved a ban on single-point chaining of dogs. In September 2016, they banned commercial and recreational dog breeding in town limits.

“This is to continue with the hopeful improvements to the animal ordinance,” said Mayor Pro Tem Cynthia Ann Bettison on Tuesday. “It is our intention, always, to ensure animals are cared for and their restraint and confinement are humane.”

Bettison said the ordinance for which the council passed their notice of intent on Tuesday came from Animal Control itself.

“Dogs, even cats, any animal in a hot vehicle could perish very quickly without the water and air they need, critical things,” said Animal Control Officer Vickie Kelman. “It is pertinent to keep their temperature lower than what a hot vehicle can be. In summertime, somehow people don’t seem to realize this. In extreme cold, vehicles actually work as a shelter for them, rather than an oven. My concern is the number of calls I end up going to for animals.”

So, the ordinance would allow Animal Control to take matters into their own hands. If Kelman, fully certified, cannot find a dog’s owner and decides the animal is in dire distress, they can break into the car.

“What this does is ensures that any damages, then — including to doors, windows, electrical, anything — the Animal Control officer and town are not liable for that if these specific conditions exist.”

Furthermore, leaving a dog in a hot enough car for long enough can permanently, even chronically, injure the dog. So, the ordinance would also allow a veterinarian to whom a dog in that condition is delivered the option to euthanize the animal if its injuries are severe enough. That, of course, is a last resort, one Bettison said she hopes never has to happen.

“We’re asking them to make sure this doesn’t happen,” she said, of pet owners. “If she cannot find the owner quick enough, she will do what she needs to do to get the animal care.”

Silver City Police Chief Ed Reynolds said that not only the Animal Control officer but his police officers will follow this ordinance.

“Our officers know that if the animal is in distress and they can’t find the owner, they’re going to break that window and deal with everything else later,” Reynolds said. “Also, this treatment may fall under animal abuse and there may be further issues for an owner depending on the impact on the animal.”

The notice of intent passed on Tuesday opens a month-long window for public input before the council puts the ordinance to a final vote at an upcoming meeting.

The council also entered a memorandum of agreement to lease the building that previously housed the town’s Office of Sustainability. The Grant County Community Foundation will begin using the space as what Town Manager Alex Brown called a nonprofit incubator.

“They will be in there themselves, but there will be other participants in the building,” Brown said. “They are going to let nonprofits who need copy machines, things like that, to use them there. A lot of these organizations do a lot of good things, but don’t have much money to do them.”

Peggy Hutchinson, president of the foundation, said that they have coordinated with the United Way of Southern New Mexico, which wants to have Silver City presence, the Community Partnership for Children, Healthy Kids Healthy Communities and more.

“What we’re looking at is an opportunity for these groups to have part-time office space,” she said. “And work on projects together, getting a lot of cross-pollination.”

Town Councilor Lynda Aiman-Smith praised the move as being great for the organizations and, therefore, the town.

“Having a shared services nonprofit incubator makes a good deal of economic sense for those services,” she said.

Aiman-Smith was less fond of traffic issues downtown. She said she was almost hit and witnessed someone else almost hit at the corner of Broadway and Bullard Street — an intersection that has proven deadly in the past. Brown said town crews will begin turning that into a four-way stop with a flashing light in the last week of August.